Relay-assisted networks improve cell performance by breaking high-attenuation radio interfaces into multiple lower-attenuation radio interfaces, as well as by extending the coverage range of base stations. Next-generation wireless networks will likely further leverage these benefits by implementing higher densities of relay terminals, as well as by accommodating both infrastructure nodes and non-infrastructure nodes, e.g., mobile devices acting as relay terminals for other mobile devices through device-to-device (D2D) or machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.
Conventional relay-assisted networks typically utilize centralized resource distribution schemes, in which the base station assigns resources for communications between the relay terminal and mobile device. These centralized resource distribution schemes may be inefficient in networks having relatively large numbers of relays due to the overhead and latencies associated with communicating allocation information between the base station and relay terminals. Accordingly, it may be advantageous to autonomously provision resources in a distributed manner at the relay terminals in order to reduce overhead and latency over the relay links.